Apparatus for fluid treating and for guiding parallel traveling textile strands



1949 J. A. HEINTZELMAN 3,492,574

APPARATUS FOR FLUID TREATING AND FOR GUIDING PARALLEL TRAVELING TEXTILE STRANDS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 19, 1945 INVENTOR. JAMES A.HEINTZELMAN BY //M W (M Dec. 27, 1949 J. A. HEINTZELMAN 2,492,574

APPARATUS FOR FLUID TREATING AND FOR GUIDING PARALLEL TRAVELING TEX Filed Nov. 19, 1945 TILE STRANDS v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mmiun INVENTOR.

JAME/S A.HElNTZEl- MAN BY 7 A TTORNBY Patented Dec. 27, 1949 FOR GUIDING PARALLEL TRAELING TEXTILE STRANDS James A. Heintzelma Glifton; N. 1., assig'not of Application. November This invention relates to. the processing'oi tex tile. fabrics and is concerned more particularly with the dyeing or wet processing of such fabr cs In the dyeing or wet processing ofjwoven fabrics or cloth it is customary to string a. number of end less bands thereof side by side over .a rotating winch or drum, which may in shape, and to draw or feed such endless bands. through a vat or dyebox located underneath the winch. The continuous length of fabric moves over the rotating winch downwardly into thevat containing the dye liquor or other processing liquor,vv where the fabric folds up in a series of superimposed layers and is then drawn upwardly over. a. guide roll back to the winch. The course is repeated over and over, for such length of time asmay be required for the processing. of the woven fabric. In the dyeing of such fabric suchcontinuous moving of the endless band through the dyeliquor may involve uninterrupted treatment for several hours, up to, for instance; eightv hours, in order to convey to the fabric or-cloth even coloring and complete fastness of color. On emerging from the wet bath the bands ofwfabric. are spaced apart and kept separate during the upward movement by passing through dividing or partitioning rail posts to keep the continuous lengths of material in separate paths and" feed them to the overhead winch or reel without overlapping or otherwise getting tangled up.

The utmost care must be taken to prevent. damage to the travelling fabric in order to avoidabrasion or chafing or other dislocation of the textile strands of the woven fabric especially since in the wet processing the textile material is generally more sensitive than in the dry condition to deformation of the weave of other damage to the woven fabric.

I have observed that in the wet processing, for instance, dyeing, of woven fabrics in such endless bands or continuous lengths over extended periods oftime, the woven fabricis apt to be dam: aged during the continuous contact with the rail posts, during abrading effect of the posts on the passing fabric; with the result that the material may become abraded or chafed or suffer slippage or other deformation of its weave or even breakage'of' its strands. I

It, is, therefore, one object of my invention to provide apparatus for the continuous wet process ing, for instance, dyeing of woven fabrics, wherein the strain on the moving fabric shall be minimized. It is another object of my invention to be rectangular or oval the upward movement, due to the one -half to Albert'Malick, Bloomfielm N: J.

19, 1945, Serial-No: 629,487

2 Claims. (01. G's-17?) provide such apparatus wherein the abrading effeet of 511011 rail posts shallbe substantially eliminated. It is a further object, of m invention tofacilitate the, wet'processing' of woven fabrics in continuous'lengths over extended periods of time without subjectin the. wet' material to undue strains during the upward. movement of the fabric. Other objectsand advantages of my invention will appear from the description thereof several views by the. same. reference characters,-

and whereinfv Fig. 1 is a persective view, partly broken away, of adyebox embodying the-feature of my invention, and

Fig. 2 is a side view, partly broken away, of adyebox, and- Fig. 3 is a top plan view, partly in section, of the rail posts according. to my invention, and

Fig. is an elevational view of. one'form- -'of mounting of therailposts of Fig. 3.

Referringto Figs. 1- and 2 of the drawing, the

apparatus comprises the conventional dyebox or wet processing vat. f with overhead winch 2 which may ample, rectangular or oval shape, the latter shape being illustrated in the drawing, and guide r0113. The endlessbandof woven, fabric 4, usually in folded shape, passes over the feeding winch 2 di rectly into'the liquor 5 of the vat l-, folding up" in a series of layers, as indicated, and then passes upwardly between the spacing rail posts #5 and over the; guide roll 3 back; to the winch 2, repeating its travel over and over, as previously described, and at considerable speed. The spacing rail posts'fi may 'be provided either in front of and below the guide roll 3, as shown, or behind and above the guide roll, as may be desired.

In apparatus, as heretoforev known, the spacing rail posts are usually in the form of stationarypins or pegs. The woven fabric during its up ward travel is more: or less in constant contact with these rail posts and it is at these posts that the woven fabric,= d1.1rin'g its upward movement, becomes damagedas'a result of the constant frictional contact-with such posts, either by way of abrasion or eiianngor other form of damage such as dislocation or shifting of the warp or weft strands of the weave or tearing of the strands. The strain on the woven fabric and the frictional contact of the fabric and post are particularly rawings in which correspond have anysuitable shape such as, for exgreat since the fabric is in a wetted condition, usually in a hot wetted condition, and is in the process of a forced upward draft by the pulling action of the overhead feeding winch, and in a state of high tension and weak condition. In any case, the fabric is in a strained and highly sensitive condition and the demands on the elasticity and strength of the fabric are at their highest, so that any undue frictional contact may easily cause permanent damage to the fabric, for instance, in the form of such slippage of weave as is commonly known as a bruise.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 3 and 4, I provide rail posts in the form of a pair of parallel rolls which, as shown in Fig. 1, are aligned in a row in a common plane, either before the woven material reaches the guide roll 3, as shown, or after it has left such guide roll on its way to the reel 2. The wet fabric thus passes upwardly between rail posts in the form of rolls, rotatable by the moving fabric, turning in the direction of the travel of the fabric. In any case, the friction with the rail post, according to the inven tion, is substantially lessened compared with the friction between such fabric and rail posts as previously used in the form of stationary pins or pegs with the result that damage. to the upwardly forced hot, wet, woven fabric is minimized and substantially eliminated, with the moving fabric contacting a moving surface designed to travel upwardly with the upwardly forced material, thus relieving the strain on the travelling fabric on contact therewith and decreasing the friction between the sensitive fabric and the rail post as well aslessening the pull on the fabric during its forced upward movement.

The rail post in accordance with the invention may consist of any suitable pair of rolls attached to the apparatus in any desired manner. For instance, I may provide a pair of juxtaposed parallel rolls, each in the form of a cylinder or the like, journaled in bearings provided in the apparatus, or, in the form of a tube or sleeve mounted, with or without bearings, on a shaft or rod which, in turn, is attached to or secured in the apparatus directly or indirectly. In Figs. 3 and 4 I have, however, shown the preferred embodiment of such post, designed for especially free rotation of rolls and for simple installation in Wet processing apparatus, comprising a stationary rod 1 directly secured to the wet processing apparatus, and a laterally arranged pair of rotatable rolls 8 and 8. Mounted on the stationary rod 1 at each end is a mounting 9 for the rolls, which may be in the form of a plate, as shown, having a bearing 10 to receive the stationary rod 1 and bearings H and I2 to receive the rotating rolls 8 and 8 respectively. As more particularly shown in the sectional view forming part of Fig. 3, the rolls are composed of a cylindrical metal tube l3 which may be covered with a surface sleeve of composition material I 4. Each roll may be secured to the end plates 9 by means of studs l5 and I5 fixed through bearings II and I2, respectively, of the plate 9 and projecting into the cylinder [3. Stud l5 at one end is shown as a fixed stud, and stud I5 is shown as an adjustablestud cooperating with lock nut 16. In order to obtain the greatest possible degree of free rotation, I may provide roller bearings l7 and II with ball race I8. The rolls must be freely rotatable, especially since the rotating motion is conveyed thereto exclusively by the travelling fabric, and for this reason I recommend in particular a rail post wherein the rolls are rotatably mounted on a roller bearing. In operation the rolls of each rail post will rotate in opposite directions, as indicated, for instance, by arrows in Fig. 4 so as to travel in each case upwardly with the moving fabric.

The rolls or at least the surface thereof, should be made of any suitable material capable of resisting the corrosive action of the rocessing liquid and of the vapors, including steam, from the processing bath, for instance, of suitable material such as stainless steel, or of vitreous material such as glass, porcelain, earthenware or the like, or of suitable plastic composition or of rubber or rubber-like material.

It will thus be noted that my novel rail post is designed to minimize or decrease the danger of damage to woven fabrics during the wet processing thereof, by substantially lessening the frictional wear of the sensitive wet fabric on contact with the rail posts provided for in such apparatus during the forced upward draft of the hot wet fabric on emerging from the processing tank.

What I claim is:

1. In combination a vat containing a fabrictreating liquid and adapted to receive a plurality of separate moving parallel turns of endless lengths of fabric therein, a roller mounted above the vat and over which the turns of fabric pass, a spacing device in the path of travel of the turns located between the roller and the vat, compris ing a bank of spaced parallel rail posts having axes at right angles to the axis of the roller, each of said rail posts comprising a separate spaced unit including end plates with a pair of parallel freely rotatable out of contact elongated rolls mounted therebetween, said rail post units being so spaced that a length of fabric moving between contiguous rolls on two adjacent rail post units of the bank is adapted for light rolling but nongripped contact with opposite rolls at any point along the length of the same during movement, and said contiguous rolls being rotatable away from each other by fabric contact and in the direction of the travel of the moving length of fabric to eliminate abrasive strain on the moving fabric.

2. The spacing device according to claim 1 wherein each rail post unit includes a stationary rod beneath the rolls projecting beyond the end plates, and means for mounting the projecting ends of the rod in a stationary support to support the rail'post units at each end.

JAMES A. HEINTZELMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 721,630 Willard Feb. 24, 1903 1,083,360 Fulton Jan. 6, 1914 1,259,526 Knibiehler Mar. 19, 1918 1,855,995 Shockley Apr. 26, 1932 1,867,210 Cohoe July 12, 1932 2,343,162 Warner May 2, 1944 2,360,965 Mosher Oct. 24, 19 14 

